Texas Syndicate members guilty in racketeering, murder

Four members of the Texas Syndicate have struck plea deals for their roles in the gang's racketeering activities in San Antonio, which included fatal and nonfatal shootings in a war with another criminal group.

Francisco “Pancho” Arroyo, 33, Adam “Rookie” Chavez, 29, Alejandro “Alex Kenwood” Flores, 31, and Nicholas “Straps” Blanco, 26, have pleaded guilty — or will do so in coming days — to conspiracy to conduct or participate in the affairs of an enterprise through a pattern of racketeering.

All four admit participating in distributing heroin and cocaine for the Texas Syndicate and for a war the gang declared on a rival, the Tango Orejón/Orejones that resulted in a streak of shootings in San Antonio in 2011.

Local, state and federal authorities stepped in to quell the violence, obtaining an indictment against 18 members or associates of the Texas Syndicate in December 2011 after an earlier roundup of several members of the Tango Orejón/Orejones.

Arroyo and Chavez admit participating in a murder during an attempted hit on a then-leader of the Texas Syndicate that the gang wanted to eliminate, Andrew “Dirty” Vidaurri. The July 2, 2011, ambush at the West Side home of Vidaurri's brother, Hector Vidaurri and his wife, Priscilla, 32, instead left her dead and injured Hector Vidaurri, an Iraq war veteran.

Plea deals in the case said Arroyo acted as a lookout in a Dodge Durango, while Chavez was in a stolen Ford F-150 with others and that the truck's occupants fired at the Vidaurris.

Flores and Blanco admit they had roles in the March 25, 2011, attempted murder of Miguel Ojeda, a member of the Tango Orejón/Orejones, following an argument at a local bar.

Under their plea deals, Arroyo and Chavez agreed to be sentenced later to 30 years in prison. Flores and Blanco agreed to 10-year prison sentences. There's no parole in the federal system.